CarlitosWay
Master Don Juan
Why Do Machines Suck?
Pretty much my same views. A lot of people shun machines, yet machine + free weight work is how I roll and I feel at times they are as valuable as free weights.
Great article...excerpt taken from here.. http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article_issue/issue_633#dave-tate-talkin-trashDave Tate said:Everyone has their list but no one's willing to look at their list backwards. People have to get away from the dogma that it's all free weights or all machines. They can have sex. You can do both.
By the way, when's the last time you heard of someone tearing a pec on a bench press machine? It's not ****ing happening.
So let's make a list real quick of what people would consider the negatives of machine training.
1. Your "stabilizer" muscles won't fire. Well, what if my rotator cuff is ****ed up? Maybe I don't want to stabilize. Now I can bench on a machine, I don't need to worry about my rotator cuff, and I can still get my triceps and pecs working. The stabilization is taken care of by the machine. That's a positive.
2. Limited range of motion. I'm calling bull**** immediately. Take someone who weighs 300 pounds with a big gut and watch him bench press. That's a limited range of motion. Put that sucker on a Hammer Strength bench press and he'll get five times more range. Besides, what's wrong with limited range of motion? Are we saying pin pulls, partial reps, lockouts, or any other partial movement with free weights are worthless, too?
3. You're only working one muscle group. What if I want to work one muscle group? Let's say my triceps are weak and it's something I want to bring up. Sure, I can do it with a close-grip bench, but I don't want to over-stimulate my CNS and do movements that will make it harder to recover. So I'm going to find something that increases my work capacity but doesn't put a big demand on my recovery. Bingo. Triceps push-down machine.
And what if I want to bring my chest up? It's much easier to do it with a machine fly to take my shoulders and triceps out of the picture. ****, now I'm using a machine to correct an imbalance. That's crazy, right?
4. Your central nervous system doesn't get as activated. I'm not sure how you can prove or disprove that any exercise is going to have more of an effect on the CNS than another exercise. That's dependent on the demands placed on the body. But let's say that a machine places less demand on the CNS. Is there not a time in training where that would become optimal? Like during a de-load? Would it be better to take a week off and not go to the gym? I say do some machines with higher reps, get some blood in the muscle, and give your CNS a break.
5. You can't go heavy. This is the dumbest thing ever. Heavy is relative to the person lifting the weight. I love when people say they like to lift heavy **** and then they go and bench 185. That's heavy? To who? And have you seen people load up a leg press? That's heavy, man.
6. It's the lazy approach to training. The lazy approach is taking a week off or not going to the gym.
Pretty much my same views. A lot of people shun machines, yet machine + free weight work is how I roll and I feel at times they are as valuable as free weights.